Our demographic dividend comes from young, working age profile. With so large number of hands working, India can be transformed in quick time. The hurdle comes from lack of infrastructure to suitably raise them, keep them in good health, train them and engage them in fruitful ventures. Taking the nation devastated in every respect during the colonial rule to the present state has not been a mean achievement, but that has not been enough vis-à-vis the population explosion. Rise in futureless youth population has brought with it many additional problems like internal migration leading to social tensions, race for employment, demand for reservations, corruption, illegal activities etc. Threat to internal security stems from such problems.
Of course the Govt. is working in full alacrity to catch up. In fact, the sole objective of governance today is to catch up on education, health, useful employment, technology empowerment and infrastructural uplift. A visit to various departmental websites or publications would show the number of schemes undertaken, their budget, progress etc. But dear, Govts. Cannot make the nation secure, it is the citizen’s attitude and sense of responsibility to do so. If we look for shortcuts like patronizing education and training ‘shops’, obtaining fake degrees, participating on corrupt practices and rumbustious mob activities, support corrupt ‘netas’ on basis of caste, religion etc., divide the nation into ‘we’ and ‘they’, then our future cannot be assuring. For the nation’s rise, citizens like you have to rise and bad apples have to be discarded. Good news is that it is happening steadily, according to the ‘human pace’. Meanwhile the nation’s internal security remains vulnerable to point zero one percent of false ideology and 99.99 percent of opportunism.